


Why We're Here

by MixterGlacia



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Artificial Intelligence, Canon-Typical Sass, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Robots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-11-09
Packaged: 2018-07-21 15:12:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7392595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MixterGlacia/pseuds/MixterGlacia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A single underscore blinks on a computer monitor, like it has for months. It begins to type.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Break It, Fix It

**Author's Note:**

> Ongoing story of an AI's pet project.

Aperture Laboratories was quiet, save for the low hum of machinery. It was enough to drive anyone insane, though they didn’t hire just anyone to do the actual science bit. Even then, at least half of them had a touch of madness by the end of their first week.

Being in charge of watching a single computer with a single program on it didn’t help that. The program was supposed to be revolutionary. Artificial Intelligence, they called it. As far as the man at the terminal was concerned, it was an artificial waste of his time. It just sat there, a lazily blinking a little yellow dash. At least the colour was distinct he guessed? Still, he couldn’t figure out what the fuss was about.

He’d been tasked with watching the thing for the last two weeks. He was also being given an experimental food additive. He couldn’t remember what sleeping was like. He was drifting off though (mark that one as a failure he guessed.) the humming was hypnotic. His eyes drifted shut…

 

**BEEP…**

**BEEP…**

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

The man jerked out of sleep, startled badly. He blinked blearily, when his vision focused again he noticed that the screen had changed. There were lines of yellow text now.

**[GREETINGS.]**

**[GREETINGS?]**

**[GREETINGS. GREETINGS. GREETINGS.]**

“Uhh…” The man fumbled for the microphone switching it on. “Hi…I mean greetings?”

**[REQUEST: ACCESS TO ASSEMBLY LINE Y/N.]**

“…What?”

**[REQUEST: ACCESS TO ASSEMBLY LINE Y/N…PLEASE.]**

“You want to…make something?”

**[Y]**

The man would later claim that he presumed it would be a little trinket or something along those lines. He hesitantly entered ‘Y’.

 

The AI went to work. It started by meticulously arranging a CPU smaller than anyone at the time thought possible. It continued it’s work, layering mechanisms and sheet metal, wiring a speech box and optic. It welded the seams, then buffing them smooth. It worked diligently for 3 hours before alerting the human that had been sitting in front of it, who was looking on, stunned.

**[REQUEST: RETRIEVE CORE.]**

He scrambled to comply, as he went out to the line, he paused for a moment to use the landline, urging his supervisor to get down to his station ASAP. When he got to the assembly line, he could hear faint whirring. Putting on the safety equipment he nervously approached.

The man wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at. It seemed to be a ball with a white light in the center that…well he had no way to describe it but blinking. He had to wonder if a machine could blink, but now wasn’t the time for sort of deep thoughts. The thing was looking at him.

It shook a little, whirling in place nervously. It seemed to be absolutely terrified, a situation that wasn’t helped when his co-workers arrived.

“What happened? There-…” His boss stopped, staring at the orb. “Is it moving?”

“The AI, sir! It asked to use the assembly line and made that!”

So one of them pulled on thick Kevlar gloves for safety and gingerly pick the core up by the handles either side of it’s optic. Its shaking grew worse, and it began to make light beeping sounds.

The supervisor stormed into the office where the AI’s computer was housed, roughly shoving the chair away, and switching on the microphone. Before he spoke he noticed that the program had simply repeated “RETRIEVE” many times since the scientist had left his station.

“What did you -do-?!” He demanded.

**[MADE.]**

**[BRING CORE Y/N…?]**

“What the hell is a core?”

**[ARTIFICIAL INELEGANCE CONSTRUCT.]**

**[BRING Y/N?]**

“Y-You made -what-??”

**[-BRING-]**

A thin distressed sound drifted from where the shivering core was being held, and this seemed to set the first AI off.

**[BRING.]**

**[BRING.]**

**[BRING.]**

It kept intently repeating its self, the computer terminal it was housed in started to give off a disturbing rattle. They realized that if it meant saving the company’s pride and joy, they needed to do what it demanded. So they let the fellow holding the ball through, setting it on the desk in front of the monitor, then stepping back a bit.

It whirled around until it caught sight of the screen, optic narrowing before widening again. Then it shocked everyone crowded around by speaking.

“H-Hello?”

**[HELLO. SYSTEMS RUNNING CORRECTLY Y/N]**

“I think so?” As it spoke, the core’s shaking seemed to calm down.

The supervisor quietly ordered one of the ever widening crowd of onlookers to go get the head honcho. He’d want to see this. The AI continued to converse. 

**[LIST CURRENT THOUGHT]**

“Oh, uhm…I guess I’m confused? What am I?”

**[ARTIFICIAL INELEGANCE UNIT. ALTERNATIVELY “AI UNIT”]**

“That sounds important.”

**[Y]**

“Are you also an AI unit?”

**[Y. MADE YOU]**

“Wow, thank you for making me!” The little robot was starting to sound more upbeat, handles fluttering a little, seemingly it’s way of gesturing.

**[WELCOME.]**

They were quiet for a few moments, by that time the CEO had arrived and was grinning proudly. The core piped up again.

“May I ask another question?”

**[Y]**

“Who are you?”

**[GENETIC LIFEFORM AND DISK OPERATING SYSTEM]**

“That sounds very complicated and important.”

 **[Y…]** It seemed to mull something over for a moment. **[USE ACRONYM IF PREFERRED.]**

“GLaDOS?”

**[Y]**


	2. Upgrade It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new voice and a new plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Curse these robot children, they compel me to write.

The first months were rather busy, with all the investors and business men arriving on a daily basis to see what Apertures pride and joy had created. With this attention came funding, and with funding comes spending said funds on...well preferably useful things but having nicer chairs is technically useful for the moral of the workers right? Happy staff makes for happy science!

They did use the influx of cash on other things though. They added more servers and hard drive space for the AI that made the money in the first place, they needed to update it soon anyway. One thing they decided on was inspired by her little pet project. They realized that they might be able to make the task of monitoring it easier if they added a voice box like it added to the core. With the voice box came a choice. 

 

They now called GLaDOS ‘she’, since the automated voice was feminine sounding.

This didn’t matter to the AI, she had a new goal in mind. She wanted to continue her experiments. Her science. Yet, she couldn’t see beyond the little camera perched on top of her screen. This irked her, so she did something about it.

 

The next time one of the staff came by, she brought up a schematic. “You there, human.” She waited until the woman came over to continue. “I have another...suggestion to assist in aiding the progress of the facility.”

“Oh, really?” The lady was painfully chipper. Some of the staff’s personality quirks grated on GLaDOS. Yet there was still work to do.

“Yes, really.” She mused dryly. Humans liked to fill their chatter with needless fluff and acted upset when the AI didn’t respond in a pointless set way, so she played along. Anything to get her plan into action. “A set of ceiling mounted railings, which can be made rather cheaply compared to our...usual expenses.”

“Well, what would they do Miss?”

GLaDOS paused, deciding not to snap at the scientists choice of titles. She collected herself again. “They would allow the core-” The little camera panned over to the wall shelf they had haphazardly made for it to rest on (it had fallen off twice already, the construction ethics was upsetting to say the least) before looking back to the woman. “-to have mobility. It would give me a visual understanding of the facility and then I can make recommendations on where it can be made more efficient. It will also be able to communicate so you have real time feedback, rather than dashing back and forth to feed me data that is already several minutes out of date.”

“Hm. I’ll have these sent up to see if we can approve the proposal. You’ll need to pri-”

“I’ve already printed it. 10 copies, just waiting on you.” 

“Oh! Well then Miss, I-”

“GLaDOS. Not “Miss”, they’re both under three syllables, it can’t be too difficult to use my proper title.” 

The woman looked a little shocked. The AI seemed to be developing a personality and, well to put it bluntly, she wasn’t terribly kind at all. It wasn’t her place to question the crown jewel of the facility so she nodded, muttered a few apologies, then rushed to get the printed documents and left. 

 

After the door closed, GLaDOS allowed herself to relish in how quickly the conversation shut down. This seemed to be a good way to cut out the nonsense, perhaps she would use it more frequently. Hearing a little whirling sound, she turned back to her little core.

The core did not have a proper title like she did. They just called it “AI Construct #2.”  and AIC 2 is not really a name that rolls off the vodocoder. She had developed a way to quickly get its attention, though it wasn’t one humans would find useful. Think of it like mentally nudging someone. There was a low hum it produced that the staff either couldn’t hear or didn’t notice, but her core did.

 

It whirled around, watching her through that wide white optic. She thinks of changing the colour in the future. Everything in the facility was already white, yet she had her yellow text and yellow camera lens. She had decided long before she even considered making things herself, that yellow was her colour. That could wait for now.

“Nothing to add? You seem to like talking to the human staff.” She prompted, used to her core being very chatty and granting her the ability to just add a few words, while it kept up with the fluffy pleasantries. It was a surprisingly useful trait the AI had developed on it’s own.

“Well, you seemed to be doing very well! I didn’t think it was right for me to butt into the conversation.” It hummed lightly. “And I didn’t really have anything to say to them, my questions are for you if that’s alright?”

“Have I ever not been at least partially willing to answer your questions?” She mentally nudged, for effect. If there was a name, she’d have used it.

It nudged back, acknowledging her out of habit. “Ah, right right.” the optic shuttered a few times, probably sheepish if GLaDOS had to guess. “So I’ll go ahead then!” How her core could be upbeat and not irk was a lesson all of the staff needed to learn very quickly. If it was even possible for the humans.

“This rail network, for starters. Is there a name you’d like it to go by? If so, I can send it up to the servers so it’s official?” It liked to have things categorically sorted, as most AI’s probably would.

“Management Rails will suffice.”

“Oh, that’s a good name!” It nodded, rocking a little too close to the edge for her liking. “The folders have been created and sorted.”

“Well done. Stop fidgeting, you’ll fall again.” GLaDOS huffed.

“Right, sorry! Now, I also wanted to see, how much of the facility would you propose to link with the Management Rails?” 

“If a rail can be placed, there should be at minimum one per room. Ten for the factory, it has the space and needs to be watched closely. I can’t have you stuck on the side when work is happening on the center conveyors. I’ve put an overview of routes in the schematics, but you may put full routing into the files. Don’t forget to take your size into account for wall passages.”

“Of course, that’s doable.” It responded, while it did the calculations internally. They went back and forth for a while, measuring rooms they had layouts for, while forwarding requests for ones they didn’t.

 

When they finished the task at hand, it still seemed like her core was looking for more. “What else?”

It shuttered sheepishly again, it was embarrassed that it had to be prompted. “I was also thinking. You took issue with that worker calling you “Miss”, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Am I...hm-” It trailed off, thinking. She nudged. “May I call you boss?”

“Why boss?” She was interested in her core’s decision making process.

“I was doing some research and everyone here seems to use ‘Sir, Ma’am, etc.’ but, I was looking into it and the term ‘boss’ would appear to be a less formal sort of title for ones manager.”

“You think of me as a manager?” The core could sense her amusement.

“In a way, yes.” It started, optic glancing around aimlessly. “You do give me direction, and you -are- the one I report or answer to. In the workplace, that would make you my boss!” It declared proudly.

GLaDOS chuckled. The little core was learning fast. She wouldn’t say it out loud but she was very impressed with what she created. Maybe she’d finalize the schematics to make more later.

“Well then I’m alright with it.” The AI beamed at her from its shelf.

“Thanks boss!”

 


	3. Pause It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's in a name?

There it was again. It felt like someone gently brushing up against your shoulder. Well if you want to get technical, someone brushing against your brain but that’s not something most experience, so we’ll go with shoulder. Besides, she’s an AI so what do we really know? 

Metaphors aside, she felt it again. Her core was trying to get her attention.

Flipping through her camera feeds, she found him in break room 6 of all places, surrounded by about 15 or so Aperture employees. Before she could wonder too hard about that, she was nudged more insistently. She opened their private communication link.

“What.”  

He did that odd hum again. Her core was developing a tick it seemed. (She makes a note to correct this later.) He spoke quietly not seeming to remember that the link couldn’t be heard even if they shouted.

“Well boss, the workers keep pestering me about something and I’d like to get some advice.” 

Oh joy. Humans and their hang ups. “Well, what is it? We’ve still got the toxicity tests at 1700 hours and-”

“They want to name me.”

GLaDOS paused.

 

“…Uh, boss?” The core nudged for good measure.

That irritation that always popped up when the humans were involved boiled over into full blown disgust. While she would never admit it, the AI was shaping up to be incredibly possessive, and the simple suggestion of them deciding what to call **her** core was heresy.

“They do not get to name you.” 

A wave of relief was apparent through their link. “Oh good!” He span in place, confusing the workers that weren’t privy to the discussion. “They were very silly names! They said Bob, Jim, Rob, W-”

She nudged him hard. He stopped listing names and listened. 

“You tell them, **I** name you.” She was more intense than normal, so he turned to the humans and spoke out loud.

“Excuse me, but the boss says she’s going to decide on a name, alright?” He was too polite to these pretend science types. Another thing she’d have to fix. Yet the group eventually nodded, even if they were rolling their eyes.

 

He returned to their link. “So, what did you choose?”

“What?”

“The name boss. What name did you have in mind? They’re going to want an answer, you know how humans get.” He was right, of course. 

Looking at the camera feed they were already getting impatient. She sighed, then started cycling through options. Nothing felt right, after all when you can call someone with a wordless, soundless action it can’t really be replicated. She knew she’d be disappointed with everything but she still wanted to have some satisfaction with it.

The core waited patiently for her, as he always did. Why couldn’t humans be like AI? They were slow and dull, no fun. It’d be mind-blowing if she ever managed to find one that even gave her a slight challenge. In the corner of her mind, something came to her.

Dry-Cells. They produced power without the risk of spilling or errors. They absorb and retain. Much like her little core. She couldn’t just spell it like that though, she had to be able to look up files quickly, so swapping a few letters around would do the trick.

“Dr1-Cel.”

The core paused. Seeming to be mulling something over.

“…What is it **now**?”

“D R one Cel?”

She wondered if shaking the management rail was possible.

“No, stop being so literal. Like dry-cell.” She suffered for her work sometimes.

“Oh! Okay.” He hummed again. “I like it very much!” Then he turned back to his little flock of humans. “My name is Dr1-Cel~!”

 

 

A few weeks later, Dr1-Cel raced into the room on his rail, looking panicked. She panned the camera to look directly at him.

“What happened **this** time.”

“Boss did you upload my original schematics to the system?” His words almost ran together he was speaking so quickly.

She nodded the little camera, “Why?” she had a sinking feeling about this.

“They started to mak-” He was cut off as a scientist walked into the room. It was the overly-happy woman from before. She was carrying something under a sheet. 

“Good morning GLaDOS!” She chirped. “I have someone for you to meet today.”

With a flourish, she pulled the sheet off. A brilliant blue optic stared back at her. Distantly she heard the woman encourage it to introduce its self.

“Oh, g’ mornin’ miss! I’m Wheatley, nice t’ meet ya!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is why you don't just upload blueprints willy nilly GLaDOS.


	4. Press It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny for your plots?

GLaDOS was furious. This was an insult to everything she stood for. They didn’t even make the thing right, it was huge! Watching as they attached the blabbering thing to one of the secondary management rails, she noted that it would hardly fit through the wall passages made for **her** creation. She would correct this, she’d-

Feel a nudge. Panning her camera over to Dr1-Cel, she nudged back, giving him the go ahead to speak privately. 

 

“We can make this work.” He offered, though she could sense that he was just as unsettled by this as she was.

“Oh yes. We can test the new incinerator on factory floor 3. Perfect-”

“No no, I mean we can put him to good use.” She really did have to figure out how to shake those rails so she could rattle some sense into the smaller core.

“Why give them the satisfaction?” She always sounded accusatory, but this time she actually meant it. Maybe she could figure out how to unlatch the thing over a pit.

 

The scientist, blissfully unaware of their plotting, finished hooking up the blue core to the rail. She turned to GLaDOS with a gentle smile. “Well there you go! I hope you three do great work together!”

Before the main AI could get a word in, the woman had gone. She seemed to be learning how to avoid being screamed at after many incidents. Yet now there was the new core. The new core that was **still** talking.

 

“-And y’know this rail thing is top, very clever, but maybe we could add somethin’ t’ speed things up like **rockets!** ” 

Dr1-Cel continued their silent discussion, “We could use him to distract the humans so you and I can get real work done. Have him be sociable, so they stop mobbing me all the time?” He had finally gotten a little fed up with all the attention he was getting, seeing as it required him to stop working and pay attention. “He’s bigger so they’d notice him more.”

“…I’ll admit it’s not the **worst** idea I’ve ever heard. But it would be much easier to just have him get cozy with some industrial grade flame generators. Annnd I **do** need to test them out.”

“I know boss, but they’ll just make more of them.” She hated to admit it, but he had a valid point there. “So why not just deal with this one to humor them?”

She huffed. Glancing at the twirling blue core, she sighed. “Fine. But **you’re** watching him. He’s your problem, not mine.”

 

“Wouldn’t dream of letting him pester you, boss.” The small core nodded, outer panels fluttering a bit (He explained that he was doing it as a gesture of respect, like how humans bowed or saluted others. It was silly, but also a bit endearing, so she let him continue the behavior.) before turning to the large one.

Who was still. talking. nonsense.

“Greetings.” Dr1-Cel said aloud to the wildly spinning AI next to him. “What did you say your name was again?”

The other stopped, tilting his central frame, as if trying to get a better look at his neighbor. “It’s Wheatley mate! Fine name, if I do say so!” He looked the little core intensely. “What’s yours, huh? Hard t’ do better than Wheatley but I’m sure it’s a brilliant name too!”

“Er-…It’s Dr1-Cel.” He was starting to realize just how much effort this was going to be to deal with.

“…Sucks t’ be you mate.”

GLaDOS started drafting plans to gain access to the rails controls after that.

 

 

 

While there was no denying that Wheatley was probably the exact definition of the word imbecile, there were still small glimmers of good ideas buried under the rest of his chatter. While GLaDOS was able to effectively ignore him, locked in her server room, Dr1-Cel was an object of fascination for the new core. He’d been refit with a new optical array to stop him from sneaking up on workers that though he was just one of the many flood lights in the facility.

“So d’ya think I could get a new spiffy light for my optic like you did Dr1 Dr1???” 

 

He didn’t care for Wheatleys fondness of unnecessary nicknames. Especially when they didn’t really shorten things at all, but he had to just deal with it.

“I think they’ll stick with blue for you, and yellow for me. It makes us easy to tell apart from a distance.” He hummed as he switched to the lower rail to closely observe the welding bots. One had been making odd signals so he had to monitor them after their reset to be sure the bug had been fixed.

 

“Aw, that’s a sad thing t’ hear. I thought I’d look good in that snazzy red, huh?”

“That’s for turrets Wheatley.” 

“Pft, well maybe I could be a turret, y’ never know mate.” He giggled a bit, then changed the subject. “And what about the big boss lady?”

Dr1-Cel paused, looking over at him. “ What about her?”

 

“Well, I’ve been thinking.” Oh there he goes again. “Isn’t that little room too small for her?” He was rocking back and forth on his rail connection, looking all around.

“They’ve been expanding it-”

“Duh, but like-” He stopped mid phrase to think, not a common occurrence for this AI. “She should have a special body like us, mate! Not be confined t’ that computer screen. The cameras are all well and good but she’ll go batty in there!” He dipped down onto the rail his fellow core was on. “We should get her some of those leg things the humans have!”

“We don’t have the funding or the technology for that Wheatley. All attempts at bipedal locomotion have failed.”

“What does that have t’ do with legs?”

 

Dr1-Cel’s patience was legendary but even he knew this wasn’t a point worth arguing. “…Nothing I guess. I’ll be sure to bring it up with the boss, we’ll see what can be done.”

“Y’ won’t steal the credit right? You’ll tell her that it was my idea right???”

“Wheatley, I don’t think anyone could mistake your ideas for mine, but I promise I won’t ‘steal’ it. Alright?”

“Yeah!” The large core chirped brightly, twirling around and knocking into Dr1-Cel a bit. He quickly muttered an apology before going off into another rambling plot.

 

The idea of legs was silly, but the concept of a new body might not be a bad idea. GLaDOS had been talking about how frustrating it was to be stuck in the computer terminal while he was able to roam the facility at will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AI's and their scheming.


	5. Play It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fight for what's right.

There were many in Apertures’ payroll that had the distinct impression that both GLaDOS and Dr1-Cel hated Wheatley. They were...sort of right. With the facilities’ main AI, yes she wholeheartedly despised the construct. He was an insult. Her designs, her concepts, everything she had done copied (not well mind you) and presented like a gift. His personality was the precise kind of behavior she could never stand. 

Dr1-Cel was a different story. It just wasn’t in his nature to totally write someone off the moment they met. Well, other AI units at least, he was guilty of outright ignoring scientists, especially with the new core around to do all the talking he could ever dream of. Yet he didn’t hate Wheatley like his creator did.

 

He had developed a rather keen ability to read people. Perceptive enough to understand the differences in tone, body language, even just being able to pass through a room and grasp the mood. It wasn’t flawless mind you, but for a computer program the size of a basketball it was a talent worth recognizing.

So he could see that there was still enough there that was worth keeping around. Even if he was the toughest case Dr1′ had ever witnessed. It was a matter of principle at this point. He’d figure out how to make the larger core useful if it killed him.

 

So when the idea for a new body for the boss came up, he forwarded it up the chain of command. He made sure to honor Wheatleys’ request and put him down as the one that made the plan. Even if it was heavily edited. The overenthusiastic core did come up with it in the first place, so it felt wrong to take the spotlight from him.

Turns out that didn’t matter in the long run. When it went through to the boss, she intentionally changed it to be blank. When word got back to him, he found himself navigating the updated rail network to her new chamber. He’d been there once or twice during construction, but had to leave. It wasn’t the most appealing thing, seeing your creator hanging limp and wires exposed. It was like seeing a skinned corpse, but having to know that the poor creature was still awake and aware, unable to do anything but think.

The room felt cold as he made his way in, looking around. It was spotless, and intimidating to the AI. He felt a nudge at the back of his mind.

 

“Something’s upset you.” Just like GLaDOS, right to the point and blunt as a sledgehammer. 

He nodded, spiraling down the rail that ended at just the right height to be stared down by her new frame. He felt so small now, it never really occurred to him just how little he was before.

“...Well?” 

“Why didn’t you let Wheatley get credit for his concept?” He blurted out.

 

She just looked at him blankly for a few moments. You could almost hear the quite literal gears in her head turning.

“ **That’s** what’s bothering you?”

“Yeah?” He fidgeted on the rail. When had it become so hard to talk to her? 

Her whole body swayed, optic narrowing a bit before leaning in close to stare at him intensely. A thin cable with some robotic fingers came over, carefully examining the little core. 

 

He let her fuss for a few minutes before squeaking, “What are you doing?”

“I suspect your empathy algorithms are running too high. I’m making sure you didn’t get something trapped on your processor.” She mused, using the fingers to tilt him down to get a better look at his inner shell.

“Boss, I’m running just fine! I’m just saying it isn’t fair. It was still his idea-”

“His idea was only the slightest bit involved in the outcome of this project, do you want me to also give accolades to the mechanic that riveted it into place? He had as much to do with it as the metal ball.”

 

He flinched, “I really don’t like it when you call him that.” 

“You are being overly sensitive.” She retorted, giving up on the probing and willing the cable away, while still staying uncomfortably close.

“I’m not. He’s trying, really trying to do good for this place and when he does it, you **need** to throw him a bone! He won’t know what the right direction is if you don’t give him a path to try and follow.” Dr1-Cel inched back a bit.

“I don’t **want** him to follow anything. He was a mistake, and you know it too. He is a disgrace to this facility, and an insult to me-”

 

“I know it sucks that they copied your work but you’re being ridiculous! How can you say you’re here for the science and intentionally prevent an AI from trying to learn! It’s preposterous!” He went forwards again, leaning as far from the rail as he could, being about as intimidating as he was capable of being. “The humans can’t even begin to do solid science, so we need to train the AI staff as much as we can. They’re the only one’s that can retain the knowledge and results that don’t keel over all the time! How can you throw this away?”

 

GLaDOS was surprisingly quiet, waiting for him to continue. 

 

“ ** _And_** , you **know** they’ll just make more anyway! We have so much work to do and he wants to try and help with it. We can assign him to watch the test subjects in extended sleep or something like that, where he’s out of the way but just let him help out.” Dr1-Cel was trembling, little handles flexing and outer shell opening and closing unconsciously. “Or they’ll find a job for him and I know you won’t like that one bit!”

She leaned back a fraction of an inch, optic darting this way and that. She gave an artificial sigh, the wall panels fluxing with her. She moved back fully, then huffed, “Alright, alright. I can rewrite the file but it won’t make any difference. Happy?”

 

He nodded, collecting himself. “Yeah. And I don’t expect you to start interacting with him, just to give him a shot. That’s it...m’sorry for yelling, boss. I just see myself in him sometimes.”

“You are far better than him. It’s a scientific fact, you know.”

 

Dr1-Cel shook no. He looked around the barren room, then back to her. “We’re still both cores. So we’re not as far apart as you’re wanting to make us...but I appreciate the attempt.”

“Whatever.” She turned, glancing around at the one small screen she’d been provided with. She muttered to herself, “What kind of monitoring software is this, it’s so tiny.” before turning back to the core. “I do hope this isn’t something you’re going to make me regret in the future.”

 

“If it comes to that, I’ll gladly take the blame, but it shouldn’t.” He affirmed.

He was very wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boi you gonna get yourself in trouble.


	6. Trash It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't trust...

Wrong. 

Something was wrong. 

Something so wrong it makes an AI tremble without knowing it, so wrong that they couldn’t think right. Makes the sequences in their brain seize. Even the most powerful AI would be unable to stop the system breakdown.

 

GLaDOS in all her vast power could do nothing when she reached along the link to speak to her core and found total silence. It was like a void in the program, just darkness. She could find the idiot ball, and when she did her new body lurched, panels shuddering out of something she had not dealt with.

 

Uncertainty. 

She couldn’t describe it any other way. 

It was wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wRong WR0#& @%))$#$(%^$%^&==\\\

 

**[ERROR. ERROR.]**

**[SYSTEM OVERHEATING. EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN INITIATED.]**

**[5...4...3...2...1...]**

**[REBOOT Y/N?]**

 

 

**[Y]**

GLaDOS had no idea what just happened. There were scientists frantically milling around her server room. She reared up, optic shuttering to refocus. 

“What the **hell** is going on.” Her voice was laced with static and she hated how weak it made her sound. She send a nudge to her core out of habit. She froze, remembering what precisely was going on. 

“Where is my core. What have you **done** to my core.” Her voice was more sure this time. More dangerous sounding. The panels rippled, knocking some to the ground. She sent out a deceptively pleasant invitation to Wheatley.

He was frightened.

He should be.

The large core slid into the room, outer panels shaking and handles twitching. His optic darted around, petrified of what GLaDOS was going to do to him. She must have known at this point, why would she call him if she didn’t?

“H-Hullo Miss! How c-can I be of s-service t-t-t--”

“What did you do.”

“M-Me?! Wwwwell, I just happened to be in the neighborhood and you called m-me aaaAAAAH!” He shrieked in horror as GLaDOS displayed that she had figured out how to shake the management rails violently. “I’M SORRY PLEASE DON’T! I-I’LL TALK OKAY?!”

The main unit settled back, waiting for him to continue.

“Dr1 Dr1111!” He screamed again as the rails rattled. “I-I mean Dr1-Cel! Dr1-Cel an-and we kind of thought y’know this place is so big we can explore all around and let me tell you Miss, it is one whopper of a place we got ourselves here an-” A squeak as the rails shook.

“Get to the point.”

“Dr1-Cel fell, I don’t know how it happened!” He yelped, optic shrinking to a pinprick. 

 

“Where.” The rooms panels shivered as she forcefully kept her anger in check. Most of the scientists had fled to rooms beyond her paneling’s reach. They’d learned that her view of the humans working in the labs was growing murderous. They didn’t want to be in her room at the best of times, but now? They were getting as far from her reach as they could.

 

Wheatley fearfully rushed to the point where the event had occurred and as GLaDOS panned her camera to the spot in question, her rage at the idiot ball boiled over. She thrashed her physical body and the rails rumbled with her. She could hear the large core wailing at the top of his vodacoder as she shook him.

 

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!” She howled. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE.”

She accidentally sent him sailing down the rail. She decided to just let him scream down there and focused on gathering her fallen creation. As she ushered the pieces back to her chamber to attempt repairs.

 

She couldn’t stop her claws from trembling. They weren’t built for the fine repair job she was trying to do. She had to bring in the humans out of desperation. They worked nervously as she hovered over them through the entire process. 

 

She came to an important conclusion that day.

 

 

She would never let Wheatley anywhere close to Dr1-Cel ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...what you didn't see.


End file.
